monfort college of business captures coveted malcolm...

Monfort College of

Business Captures Coveted

Malcolm Baldrige Award

Special Section BAug. 5-18, 2005www.ncbr.com

2B Pursuit of Quality Aug. 5-18, 2005

Baldrige Award brings prestige to UNC, Colorado

Courtesy of Monfort College of Business

EDUCATION STANDARD — The Kenneth W. Monfort College of Business emphasizes small class sizes, high levels of professor-student interaction, cutting-edge technolo-gies and professional expertise.

The Malcolm Baldrige National QualityAward is given only to those organizationsand businesses that achieve the highestlevel of quality andperformance. For theKenneth W. MonfortCollege of Business atthe University ofNorthern Coloradoto be chosen as a2004 Baldrige Awardwinner brings pres-tige not only to theUniversity but in real-ity to the entire state.

With the award, theMonfort College ofBusiness becomes thefirst business school in the country to beselected for this honor. Since the programwas created in 1987, there have been 62recipients of the Baldrige Award. MCB isjust the second institution of higher learn-ing to receive this honor, and this marksonly the second time that any organizationin Colorado has won the Baldrige Award.

For years, MCB has set a standard forhigh-quality business education by empha-sizing small class sizes, high levels of pro-fessor-student interaction, cutting-edgebusiness technologies and professionalexpertise in a variety of business fields.These consistently high standards explainwhy the college was chosen for this presti-

GUESTCOLUMNGov. Bill Owens

© 2005 Northern Colorado Business Report, Inc. Reprinted

ExcellenceExcellence (n.) the fact or state oexcelling; eminence;

ExcelExcel (v.) to surpass others or besome respect or area; do extreme

ExcellentExcellent (adj) possessing outstaquality or superior merit; remark

Three words that describe:

Congratulations on a job well donCongratulations on a job well don

Monfort Fam

gious national award.A few examples of the college’s success-

es include:n Improving student performance on

Educational Testing Service business testsby 24 percent in the past 10 years. Studentperformance at MCB consistently has beenwell above the national mean and in 2003-2004 reached the top 10 percent level. Thesummer and fall 2004 results exceeded the95th percentile.

n Bringing real-world business expert-ise to the campus to enrich the curricu-lum. MCB’s innovative Monfort Executive

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Professor Program brings regionally ornationally known senior executives tocampus not only as guest lecturers but alsoto teach complete courses.

n Having more than 90 percent of theorganizations employing MCB’s studentsrate the program as “good” or “excellent”in 2004, a rating that surpasses all ofMCB’s major regional competitors.

n Reducing the cycle time to launch newcourses, enabling MCB to respond within afew months to student and employerdemand for new courses to enhance thepreparation and skills of graduates.

Cache Banis a proud suppoThe Monfort Coll

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Corporate Office4601 W. 20th St. Greeley, CO 80634

970-351-8600

Greeley Office924 11th St. Greeley, CO 80631

970-506-7183

The College earned the award aftergoing through a rigorous review. Anindependent team of Baldrige examinersfrom various industries throughout theUnited States spent approximately 1,000hours reviewing the College’s applica-tion and conducting an on-site examina-tion.

As Governor, I am extremely proud ofthe efforts and the results. Congratula-tions to the Monfort College of Businessand the University of Northern Colorado.

Bill Owens is governor of Colorado.

k & Trustrter of UNC and ege of Business!

Fort Collins Office100 S. College Ave. Fort Collins, CO 80524

970-493-4111

Denver Office410 17th St. Ste. 100 Denver, CO 80202

303-572-8600

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Aug. 5-18, 2005 Pursuit of Quality 3B

Award validates decades of hard work

How to reach the Kenneth W. MonfortCollege of Business

Kenneth W. Monfort College of BusinessUniversity of Northern ColoradoKepner Hall, Campus Box 128Greeley, CO 80639-0019(970) 351-2764Fax: (970) 351-2500Web: www.mcb.unco.eduE-mail: [email protected]: Joe F. Alexander

Courtesy of Monfort College of Business

BACK TO BUSINESS — This fall, students at UNC’s Monfort College of Business will be attending the only busi-ness school to earn the esteemed Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

The Malcolm Baldrige National QualityAward validates two decades of hard workand one particularly tough decision by theUniversity of NorthernColorado’s Kenneth W.Monfort College of Busi-ness. It is a testament tothe value of long-termgoals, self-assessmentand unbending dedica-tion.

When the college’sleaders and faculty real-ized in 1984 that theirresources were spreadtoo thin to compete withthe nation’s top graduatebusiness programs, theytook a hard look at themselves. Theiranalysis suggested the college needed aniche. So they made the tough decision tophase out graduate-level courses and con-solidate undergraduate programs into onedegree with several emphasis areas. Theyaimed to be one of the nation’s best under-graduate business programs.

Continuous improvement principlesbecame an integral part of the college’soperations. Amid change, it held fast totwo key long-term strategies. First, offersmall classes, a faculty of highly qualified,seasoned professionals and an array ofbusiness technologies. Second, aim forvalue with high quality, lower-cost pro-grams.

The college has achieved many mile-stones since 1984, but the Baldrige Award

GUESTCOLUMNKay Norton

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is perhaps the best measure of its success.It is an honor to receive an award reservedby the president of the United States forthe best of the nation’s best. The MonfortCollege of Business is the first businessschool ever to earn the honor. UNC is onlythe second higher-education institution inthe nation and one of just two entities inColorado to win the Baldrige Award.(Operations Management InternationalInc. earned the award in 2000.)

The Baldrige Award’s prestige comesnot only from its selective nature butalso from the level of review it requires.The college’s application endured more

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than 1,000 hours of scrutiny by Baldrigeexaminers, including a rigorous sitevisit. Much like an accreditation process,application for the Baldrige Award is avaluable self-assessment tool. MonfortCollege dean Joe F. Alexander and thecollege’s faculty applied for the BaldrigeAward knowing the process would beworthwhile even if they did not win theaward.

It is even better, however, to earn theoutside validation and national recognitionthat come with winning the award. Appli-cations to the Monfort College haveincreased since the award was announced,

© 2005 Northern C

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onfort College of Business earned this prestigious

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and so have calls from prospective employ-ers.

The Baldrige Award reflects campus-wide excellence at the University ofNorthern Colorado. The Monfort Collegeof Business exemplifies what the universi-ty’s “Charting the Future” long-rangeplanning initiative has been workingtoward for two years: mission-drivenplanning, continuous improvement and afocus on quality.

Kay Norton is president of the Universityof Northern Colorado.

olorado Business Report, Inc. Reprinted with permission.

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Malcolm Baldrige Award testifies to college’s quality, performance

Our recognition as a Malcolm BaldrigeNational Quality Award recipient serves asa strong testimony tothe quality of ourbusiness program andto how well we areperforming in fulfill-ing our mission ofdelivering an excel-lent undergraduatebusiness education.

The Kenneth W.Monfort College ofBusiness is one of justfive undergraduate-onlybusiness programs in the United States tohold accredited status in both businessadministration and accounting from theAssociation to Advance Collegiate Schoolsof Business (AACSB), the premier accredit-

GUESTCOLUMNJoe F. Alexander


Vice President’

ing body for business schools.Furthermore, the designation of the

Monfort College as a Timberline Awardrecipient by Colorado Performance Excel-lence, and a Program of Excellence by theColorado Commission on Higher Educa-tion, marks the first and only time a Col-orado business program has ever receivedeither of these distinguished honors.

Let me share with you some highlightsthat characterize the college’s recentprogress on our journey to performanceexcellence:

n Investments in business studentscholarships and program technology areat an all-time high, and student enrollmentquality and quantity are booming.

n Our second year as Colorado’s exclu-sive Wall Street Journal academic partnerenriches our curriculum and provides

with permission.

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NATIONAL PRIORITY — Vice President Dick Cheney prese

Monfort students and faculty with fullaccess to the Journal’s vast array of printand online information resources.

n All business classrooms are equippedwith the latest in computer and multime-dia instructional technologies, and a wire-less infrastructure supports high-speedstudent and faculty connectivity through-out our facility. Monfort College studentscomplete a business curriculum that istechnology-rich, hands-on by design, anddecidedly current in content.

n Our students are now scoring in thetop 10 percent nationally on the Educa-tional Testing Service Major Field Achieve-ment Test in business, an exit exam whichmore than 80,000 students at 469 institu-tions in the United States took in 2003-04.

n More than 98 percent of our gradu-ates are either employed or in graduate

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nted the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award at a c

school within six months of graduation.n High student, parent, and employer

satisfaction scores (many among the bestin the country) also attest to the quality ofour program delivery.

It’s great to be part of a team of individ-uals who are building Colorado’s bestundergraduate business program. Reach-ing the above milestones makes the jour-ney all the more rewarding.

As we strive to “Build Business Excel-lence,” we recognize the importance of astrong foundation that includes alumni,supporters and business leaders who con-tinue to play a key role in our successes.

Joe F. Alexander is dean of the KennethW. Monfort College of Business at the Uni-versity of Northern Colorado in Greeley. Hecan be reached at (970) 351-2764 or via e-mail at [email protected].

drige Awards

White House photo by Paul Morse

eremony in Washington D.C., July 20, 2005.

Editor’s note: Following is the text of U.S. VicePresident Dick Cheney’s remarks at the Mal-colm Baldrige National Quality Awards cere-mony in Washington, D.C., July 20, 2005.

It’s been said that more than any otherprogram, the Baldrige Quality Award isresponsible for making quality a nationalpriority, and disseminating best practices allacross the United States. To receive thishonor is to become a role model and stan-dard-setter for organizations of every kind,as well as becoming a source of pride to ourentire country. You have earned the admira-tion of all of us, and I count it a privilege topresent these awards on behalf of our Pres-ident, George W. Bush.

This honor is named, of course, for our26th Secretary of Commerce, MalcolmBaldrige. I was proud to know SecretaryBaldrige when I was a member of Congressback in the 1980s and he was part of theReagan Cabinet. I want to thank his wife,Midge, his sister Letitia and other membersof the Baldrige family who are here with ustoday.

Mac was a terrific guy who led one of thetruly great American lives. Not only did heachieve great success as an industry leader,but Mac was also the only person I’m awareof who was both a member of the Councilon Foreign Relations and the ProfessionalRodeo Cowboys Association. (Laughter.)He was rightly described as a man who hadan individual identity that could not beswayed or otherwise affected by the gloriesof office. As a government official and as ahuman being, Mac Baldrige sat tall in thesaddle, and he is still held in the highestregard here in Washington.

Mac Baldrige served in the Cabinet ofRonald Reagan during a time of seriouseconomic challenges to our nation. We hadgone through devastatingly high inflation,weak productivity, and slow growth in the1970s. Then, as the recovery of the 1980sbegan, American companies faced unprece-dented, aggressive competition fromabroad. And government and business hada fundamental decision to make : either toturn inward and try to shield ourselvesfrom fair competition, or to stay in thegame, with renewed confidence in the free

market and in the American spirit of enter-prise.

Secretary Baldrige, like President Rea-gan, was one of the optimists. He knew thatthe free enterprise system, and the qualitiesof character it brings out, had made Amer-ica the wealthiest, most innovative nation inthe world. He believed, and argued, that arenewed focus on quality would restore thisnation’s competitiveness, and lead directlyto greater productivity, higher sales, and abetter standard of living in the long run.

The optimists have been proven correct.Because we accepted the challenge of globalcompetition, this nation is far better offtoday than we might otherwise have been— wealthier, more productive, and withbright hopes for the future.

The Baldrige Quality Awards have aplace in this great story, because for the last17 years this competition has inspiredorganizations in every part of the countryto strive for excellence across the board. It

has become a tradition in America to setBaldrige goals, to apply Baldrige principles,and to seek Baldrige recognition.

The selection process for the Award ishighly detailed, and is carried out by a ded-icated Board of Examiners whose service weappreciate very much. As we’ve seen andheard this morning, the newest group ofhonorees is highly diverse, yet each hasshown the same basic understanding ofhow to deliver high value to the customer,and how to improve the functioning oftheir enterprises.

None of this would be possible without ateam effort, a problem-solving mindset,and trusting relationships throughout theoperation. And so credit for receiving thishonor is shared by every man and womanwho works at the Bama Companies, at Ken-neth W. Monfort College of Business, at theRobert Wood Johnson University HospitalHamilton, and the Texas Nameplate Com-pany, which is a second-time recipient of

the Baldrige Award.As we gather for this annual presenta-

tion, we’re reminded that for all the changesthat come along in a dynamic, free-marketeconomy, some things must never change— the drive to excel, the character to perse-vere against difficulty, and the willingnessto outwork and outperform the competi-tion, whether it’s across town or around theglobe.

Becoming a Baldrige honoree representsfar more than simply winning a prestigiousprize in a single year. It represents an ongo-ing commitment, year in and year out, todelivering a good product or service, fol-lowing a good plan, and putting good peo-ple in place to get the job done.

Once again, we found four organizationsthat are meeting the challenge in absolutelysuperb fashion. The nation is proud of theirefforts, and again we want to congratulateall of them.

Thank you very much.


Cheney presents Baldrige Award to Monfort College

Malcolm BaldrigeAward winners

The following organizations were presentedwith the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award,in a ceremony in Washington D.C. July 20. Awardswere presented in four categories.

Education: Kenneth W. Monfort College of Busi-ness at the University of Northern Colorado,Greeley.

Health-care: Robert Wood Johnson UniversityHospital Hamilton, Hamilton, N.J.

Manufacturing: Bama Cos., Tulsa, Okla.

Small-business: Texas Nameplate Co. Inc., Dallas.

SOURCE: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY

Who was MalcolmBaldrige?

Malcolm Baldrige was secretary of commercefrom 1981 until his death in a rodeo accident inJuly 1987. Baldrige was a proponent of qualitymanagement as a key to this country’s prosperityand long-term strength. He took a personal inter-est in the quality improvement act that was even-tually named after him and helped draft one ofthe early versions. In recognition of his contribu-tions, Congress named the award in his honor.

SOURCE: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY

Courtesy Kenneth W. Monfort College of Business

STRONG SHOWING — About 50 staff, faculty, students and supporters of the Kenneth W. Monfort College of Business attended a ceremony July 20 for presentation of theMalcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Their attendance was paid for by the foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Inc.


STRATEGIC DIRECTION — Joe F. Alexander, dean of the Kenneth W. Monfort College of Business at the Univer-sity of Northern Colorado, credited the college’s faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends for the Monfort Col-lege’s winning of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

WASHINGTON D.C. — Vice PresidentDick Cheney presented the MalcolmBaldrige National Quality Award to theKenneth W. Monfort College of Business atthe University of Northern Colorado July20.

The ceremony was attended by Dean JoeAlexander, Associate Dean Tim Jares, themajority of the Monfort College faculty andstaff, selected students and advisory groupmembers. Their attendance was paid for bythe Foundation for the Malcom BaldridgeNational Quality Award Inc.

Also attending were UNC president KayNorton and Colorado Gov. Bill Owens. Sec-retary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrezemceed the event.

“Becoming a Baldrige honoree repre-sents far more than simply winning a pres-tigious prize in a single year,” Cheney said.“It represents an ongoing commitment,year-in and year-out, to delivering a goodproduct or service, following a good plan,and putting good people in place to get thejob done.”

Referring to the college and the otheraward recipients, he said, “We’ve found fourorganizations that are meeting the chal-lenge in an absolutely superb fashion. Thenation is proud of their efforts.”

Alexander accepted the honor, calling it“a privilege to receive the award.” He paidtribute to the college’s faculty, staff, stu-dents, alumni, and friends.

“We are here because of their continuedcommitment to performance excellence,”he said.

Alexander credited a strategic shift at thecollege that began in 1984.

“In what we now refer to as our ‘road lesstraveled,’ the College chose to eliminate allgraduate programs and focus 100 percent ofits resources on building quality within asingle undergraduate business degree —not exactly the typical strategy for U.S. busi-ness schools which generally make theirmark in the MBA arena,” Alexander said.

“While many of our peers measure suc-cess by business school rankings,” Alexan-der continued, “we decided to instead focuson quality by selecting metrics such as stu-dent learning, faculty and student satisfac-tion, placement rates, and employer satis-faction — quantifiable, benchmarkedresults that would speak for themselves.”

A sampling of past winners includes TheRitz-Carlton Hotel Co. LLC; Cadillac MotorCar Co.; Caterpillar Financial ServicesCorp.; Motorola Commercial, Government& Industrial Solutions Sector; IBMRochester; Xerox Corp. Business Products& Systems; the University of Wisconsin-Stout; and Operations Management Inter-national Inc.

Each recipient earned the award aftergoing through a rigorous review of itsprocesses and results. An independent teamof Baldrige examiners from various indus-tries throughout the United States spentapproximately 1,000 hours reviewing eachapplication and conducting on-site exami-nations.

The exhaustive review of the College’squality and results covered seven areas:leadership; strategic planning; student,stakeholder and market focus; measure-ment, analysis, and knowledge manage-

Washington D.C. ceremony

honors UNC College

for quality programs

ment; faculty and staff focus; processmanagement; and organizational per-formance results.

Named after the 26th secretary of com-merce, the Malcolm Baldrige NationalQuality Award was established by Congressin 1987 to enhance the competitiveness ofU.S. businesses. The award promotes excel-lence in organizational performance, recog-nizes the quality and performance achieve-ments of U.S. organizations, and publicizessuccessful performance strategies.

The Monfort College of Business is theonly program of its kind in the RockyMountain region, focused exclusively onundergraduate business education andinternationally accredited in businessadministration and accounting.

One of five undergraduate-only pro-grams in the United States to hold suchaccreditations, Monfort is the sole businessschool to receive the Malcolm BaldrigeNational Quality Award from the U.S.Department of Commerce; the TimberlineAward from Colorado Performance Excel-lence, and the Program of Excellence Awardfrom the Colorado Commission on HigherEducation.

Students at Monfort score in the top 10percent on nationwide standardized exitexams and earn a degree in business admin-istration with an emphasis in accounting,computer information systems, finance,general business, management, or market-ing. An interdisciplinary degree is alsoavailable in nonprofit management.

© 2005 Northern Colorado Business Report, Inc. Reprinted with permission.

Baldrige Award 20 years in making for Monfort College



UPDATED RESUME — One program initiated at the Kenneth W. Monfort College of Business has a resume for the college itself, to be used both in recruitment of studentsand by students seeking employment after graduation.

By Anne Cumming [email protected]

GREELEY — At 5:30 a.m. on a Mondaylast November, seven members of the facul-ty at the University of Northern ColoradoKenneth W. Monfort College of Businessgathered for coffee and bagels.

And they waited — with butterflies intheir stomachs.

They knew the phone call could comeanytime between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. Theyhoped that U.S. Secretary of CommerceDon Evans, the bearer of good news, wouldbe on the other line. They didn’t want it tobe Harry Hertz, who calls companies andorganizations to say, “Sorry, you didn’t winthe Baldrige Award this year.”

The phone rang at 7 a.m. “Please holdfor the Secretary of Commerce,” a voicesaid. Monfort College of Business dean JoeAlexander gave his colleagues a thumbs-up.They all started screaming.

“They were screaming so loud, I couldn’thear what he was saying on the other line,”Alexander said with a laugh.

That phone call was the culmination of20 years of vision, leadership and hard work

Strategic shift in early1980s paved way forcoveted award in 2005


for the Monfort College of Business, one ofUNC’s premier programs. The college wasone of four winners of the 2004 MalcolmBaldrige Award, the nation’s highest honorfor performance excellence given in fourcategories — manufacturing, small busi-ness, education and health care

The Monfort College of Business is onlythe second institution of higher educationto win the award and the only businessschool in the United States to receive it.Many people inside and outside UNC areunfamiliar with the significance of thehonor.

But that doesn’t make it any less mean-ingful for faculty and staff at the College ofBusiness.

“Only two years passed between thedecision to go for the award and winningit,” said Alexander, who has been dean ofthe college since 2002. “Now we’re like,‘What’s the next step?’ The next step will betrue to what we’ve done since the ‘80s. Wewant to develop something unique. Wedon’t want to do what everyone else isdoing.”

Becoming the bestQuality became a concern for the Mon-

fort College of Business and the U.S. gov-ernment around the same time.

In the 1980s, the Reagan administrationwas worried about the increasing edge thatforeign markets had over U.S. businesses.To encourage American businesses tobecome more competitive, Congress estab-lished the Malcolm Baldrige National Qual-ity Award in 1987. It was named after theformer secretary of commerce, who died ina rodeo accident in July 1987. Baldrige was

a proponent of quality management as inte-gral to the country’s prosperity.

Meanwhile, former UNC College ofBusiness dean Bill Duff was asking himselfwhat the college could do to become better.

In the 1980s, the college was doing alittle bit of everything, including under-graduate and graduate education, butnone of it very well. The graduate pro-gram, like most graduate programseverywhere, drained most of the col-lege’s resources. Still, it couldn’t com-pete with the University of Colorado,the University of Denver or ColoradoState University.

Duff, however, thought the college couldmake a difference in undergraduate education.

“Undergrads across the state were gettingshortshrift,” he said. “All the classes weretaught by graduate assistants. They neverhad much direct contact with faculty.”

At a dinner meeting in his home with hisfaculty and staff, Duff cast a vision: Elimi-nate the graduate programs and become thebest in the state at undergraduate educa-tion. In fact, it would become one of only ahandful of universities in the United Statesto focus on undergraduate business educa-tion.

“I thought it was a track we could runon, and we could win,” Duff said.

Some faculty members were hesitant tochange. Most of them jumped on board,though, and stayed committed during thenext several years as the college cut pro-grams and whittled the business schooldown to six programs in five departments.

“I call that a time of cleaning up andweeding the garden,” Duff said. “It washard. We were really only selling a promiseuntil we got accreditation.”



QUALITY AWARD — Vice President Dick Cheney stands with Kenneth W. Monfort College of Business Dean Joe F.Alexander, Associate Dean Tim Jares and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez at the presentation ceremony forthe Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award July 20 in Washington, D.C.

In 1992, the College of Business becameaccredited by the Association to AdvanceCollegiate Schools of Business, a designa-tion earned by only 15 percent of businessschools across the United States. Thathelped the college recruit students and garner donations.

Duff coined two phrases the college con-tinues to use today. The first is “A private-school education at a public-school price.”That slogan highlights the difference inprice between public schools such as UNCand private schools such as the University ofDenver.

The second slogan is “High-touch, wide-tech and professional depth.” High touchmeans smaller classes in U-shaped class-rooms designed to generate discussion andinteraction. Wide tech means the latesttechnology incorporated across the curricu-lum. Professional depth means teachershave either doctoral degrees or senior-levelexperience in their respective businessfields.

The college also started some innovativeprograms. With a $1 million endowmentfrom Ken and Myra Monfort, then Greeley’smost prominent philanthropists, the collegestarted the Monfort Executive ProfessorshipProgram. It brings in retired executivesfrom various business sectors as full-timeteachers.

The college also started the Student andFoundation Fund, a class in which mostlyfinance majors manage an investment fundof real dollars. The fund, originally$200,000 from the UNC Foundation, hasgrown to $1.1 million.

Robert Lynch, who succeeded Duff asdean from 1994-2002, was instrumental insecuring more funds from the Monforts tosupport the business college. The collegewas named after the late Ken Monfort whenthe Monfort Family Foundation donated$10.5 million to the college in 1998.

Validation of a visionWhen he became dean in 2002, Alexan-

der hosted a dinner for the faculty and staffand cast a vision to take the College of Busi-ness a step further. They all agreed to goafter the Baldrige Award

An organization or company doesn’twin the Baldrige Award by happenstance.The application process is tedious. TheMonfort College of Business’ applicationwas 55 pages long. Baldrige quality exam-iners — or judges — visit the finalists toassess them on the award’s seven cate-gories, including leadership, strategic plan-ning, customer focus and business results.Some winners apply multiple times beforethey win.

The Monfort College of Business appliedin 2003 but didn’t win. The faculty receiveda 50-page feedback report and got busyworking on their weak areas. The collegeresubmitted an application in 2004 and gotword that it had won the Monday beforeThanksgiving.

Since then, life has been a whirlwind forthe college. “It has made our heads swim,”Alexander said. “It’s a great source of pride.This is incredible validation that our careershave made a difference.”

Financial donations have increasedbecause of the award. Student applicationsto the college are up 50 percent over twoyears ago and 20 percent since the collegewas named a Baldrige winner.

Faculty members have traveled aroundthe country explaining to companies andorganizations how the college becameexcellent enough to get the award.

True to its history, the Monfort Collegeof Business is developing a vision for anoth-er innovation — a center or institute atUNC to help businesses and organizations.

“We don’t produce widgets. We educatestudents,” Alexander said. “Whether you’rein business or education, though, youalways have to be asking, ‘What can we do toget better?’ We believe one of our missionsnow is to assist businesses or other educa-tional institutions become better at whatthey do.”



Innovative programs helpMonfort College stand out



Student fund climbsin valueThe value of the Student and Foundation Fund hasreached more than $1.1 million. Data is current asof March 5, 2005.

Value % of portfolioEquity $802,678 70.69Fixed income $277,087 24.4Cash $55,716 4.91Total $1,135,481 100

SOURCE: KENNETH W. MONFORT COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

The decision at the University of North-ern Colorado’s Kenneth W. Monfort Collegeof Business to become undergraduate-onlyin the mid-1980s made the college stand outamong its peers.

But so have the college’s innovative pro-grams. Those include a program that bringsin top-level business executives to teach fulltime; a student-run investment fund class;an opportunity for students to build securenetwork servers; a business resource centerstaffed by student experts, and a new non-profit-management program.

Monfort Executive Professor ProgramA $1 million endowment from the Mon-

fort Family Foundation was the beginning ofthe Monfort Executive Professor Program.The money was originallysupposed to go to hiringone professor. But formerCollege of Business deanBill Duff had anotheridea.

Duff ’s idea was tobring in top-level execu-tives who are retired andready to give back insome way. Not onlywould they teach full timeand bring real-world experience to students,they’d also help the college with fund-raisingand help place students in jobs after gradua-tion.

Today, there are four Monfort executiveprofessors and three Colorado executiveprofessors, who don’t have quite as manycredentials as the Monfort executives butbring significant experience to the classroomnonetheless.

Their salaries come from a combinationof private funding and state money.

Gerald Shadwick, a former Greeley bank-ing executive, retired last month after 10 yearsas director of the Monfort Executive ProfessorProgram.

“The highlight has always been watchingan executive come in and grab hold of work-ing with students,” Shadwick said. “It’s mar-velous that students get to develop relation-ships with them and get a sense of what it’slike to be a leader in a major industry.”

Student and Foundation Fund ClassIn the early 1990s, not many universities

across the country had student-managedinvestment funds. What university wouldallow an inexperienced group of 20-year-olds to manage hundreds of thousands ofdollars in investments?

UNC did.“I felt confident the students could do a

good job,” said John Clinebell, a facultymember who started the Student and Foun-dation Fund Class at UNC in 1992. “Theirperformance has surprised me.”

The UNC Foundation agreed to give theclass $200,000 to manage, about 2 percent ofits total endowment at the time. In the 13years since the class started, the fund hasgrown to $1.1 million. It has regularly keptpace with or outperformed the S&P 500 andother balanced-fund portfolios.

Students go through an interview processto get into the class. Of the 20 to 30 appli-cants, most of them senior finance majors,only 12 are accepted.

Monfort executive professor Lee Korins,former president of the Security TradersAssociation and the chairman and CEO of

SHADWICK

Philadelphia and Pacific Stock Exchanges,teaches the class. He acts as a guide andanswers questions, but the students make thefinal decisions.

Each student tracks specific stocks andbonds throughout the semester. Using theirown economic forecasts and allocations asguideposts, students research potentialinvestments and present them to fellowclass members. The class votes, and thesecurity or bond is either rejected or pur-chased. “Sells” are administered in the samemanner.

Last year, the class won a national compe-tition for the growth portion of the fund,which realized a 34.5 percent return duringthe 2003 calendar year. The class finishedeighth overall in the nation and competedagainst students from top graduate businessschools.

Applied Networking ProgramAfter junior and senior computer infor-

mation systems students build fully func-tional network servers from the ground up,hackers around the world attempt to com-promise the network’s integrity through thecollege’s working computer laboratory. If itwithstands the assault, the student’s work isvalidated.

Colorado Business Resource CenterJunior and senior business students

intern in a statewide call facility, acting asresident experts on basic business start-upinformation and steering callers to appropri-ate additional resources.

Nonprofit managementIn 2000, the Monfort College of Business

received a Program of Excellence designa-tion from the Colorado Commission onHigher Education. The money the collegereceived for the award went to create a non-profit-management program, another inno-vation for the College of Business.

Most nonprofit degree programs are atthe master’s level, and most aren’t operatedout of business schools.

“A lot of people don’t see the connectionbetween human services and business,” saidClinebell, who runs the nonprofit-manage-ment program with his wife, Sharon.

Many people go into nonprofit careersbecause they want to help people. But theyalso need the same management and financeskills that business leaders need to run suc-cessful operations.

So far, there are about 20 majors in theprogram, and three students have graduated.

The Monfort College of Business alsooffers a day-and-a-half summer institute fornonprofit leaders.


Monfort College focuses on three schools


The University of Northern ColoradoKenneth W. Monfort College of Businessspent several years phasing out its graduateprograms and organizing its undergraduateprograms into five key departments when itdecided to become an undergraduate-onlyprogram in the mid-1980s.

Next academic year, the college willeliminate the departments and go to aschool system as part of UNC’s university-wide Charting the Future changes. The Col-lege of Business will continue to offer thesame classes and emphasis areas.

The college is combining its depart-ments into three schools: the School ofAccounting and Computer InformationSystems, the School of Finance and theSchool of Management and Marketing.

AccountingThe popular CBS Series “CSI” has made

forensic science fascinating for the averageperson. Imagine that same type of detectivework applied to accounting.

A fraud-examination course is thenewest offering from the Monfort Collegeof Business’ accounting program. It teachesstudents about account-ing forensics, how to findhidden assets and detectother types of accountingfraud.

This class and anothernew course in computerforensics are part of anew minor offered joint-ly by the accounting andcomputer informationsystems programs. The minor in networkand information systems security is actual-ly aimed at criminal justice majors.

Another unique accounting class isaccounting theory and research, which isunusual for an undergraduate program.

“The kind of stuff I’m teaching is usual-ly only available in a graduate-level pro-gram,” said Richard Newmark, director ofthe new School of Accounting and Com-puter Information Systems. “Because wedon’t offer a master’s program, we feel anobligation to prepare students for certifica-tion exams with an undergraduate degree.”

Computer Information SystemsAt the height of the computer informa-

tion systems program’s popularity a fewyears ago, it had 200 students, and facultymembers struggled to offer all the classesstudents needed to graduate in four years.

At the height of the recent economicdownturn, computer information systemssaw enrollment drop off about 50 percent.The program is bouncing back now.

“We still have high-quality students,” saidCharmayne Cullom, chair of the depart-ment. “During the dot-com craze, a lot ofstudents were in the program because theythought they could make a lot of money inthe industry. Now we’re back to a core ofstudents really passionate about the field.”

Students get to work with systems suchas Oracle, Flash, DreamWeaver and Cold

NEWMARK

Focus on undergradsspurred consolidationof department offerings

Fusion. In addition to thejoint minor in networkand information securi-ties offered with theaccounting department,computer informationsystems is considering ajoint venture with themarketing programabout e-commerce.

FinanceThe one unique class for finance majors

is the Student and Foundation Fund class,in which 12 students manage $1.1 millionin investments for the UNC Foundation.The instructor for the class is Lee Korins, aMonfort executive professor and formerpresident of the Security Traders Associa-tion and chairman and CEO of thePhiladelphia and Pacific Stock Exchanges.

Finance also incorpo-rates the Monfort Execu-tive Professor Programinto other classes. JuniusPeake, former governorand vice chair of theNational Association ofSecurities Dealers, teach-es market microstruc-ture, his area of expertise.

Tim Jares, assistantdean of the College of Business and profes-sor of finance, has been teaching case prob-lems in financial management, which Jarescalls the most difficult class finance majorstake. For the course, students have to comeup with a five-year financial plan for a sim-ulated company.

ManagementOne of the hallmarks of the College of

Business is giving students hands-on expe-rience before they graduate and enter thebusiness world. One of those experiencescomes through small-business counseling, acourse offered for both management andmarketing majors. Through the course of asemester, students work with small businessin Northern Colorado to solve problemswithin the business.

The management program has alsoincorporated Monfort executive professorsby offering special courses. Gerald Shad-wick, who retired last month as director ofthe executive professor program, has taughtbusiness, government and society, a classthat deals with current events and businessethics. Roger Maddocks, former vice presi-dent of global manufacturing for Eastman

CULLOM

PEAKE

Kodak Co., teaches quality management, acourse that also fits into the quality-man-agement focus of the Malcolm BaldrigeAward.

MarketingMarketing majors can get a wide variety

of unique experiences at the Monfort Col-lege of Business. The advertising class anddirect-marketing class take part in nationalcompetitions in which students come upwith advertising and direct-marketing cam-paigns for companies.

There’s also an Internet marketing classand a marketing research class, in which

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students do marketing research for busi-nesses in Greeley.

For the past eight summers, market-ing professor Vish Iyer has taken a groupof students to Europe for the interna-tional business and cultural experienceclass. Students have visited the AnschutzCorp.’s Millennium Dome in London,Hewlett-Packard Co.’s facility in Greno-ble, France, and the World Trade Centerin Paris.

“Not too many institutions have classeslike that,” Iyer said. “That’s what makes usunique. We promise hands-on experience,and we try to practice what we preach.”



Strategic decisions transformed college’s history


By Luanne [email protected]

Much has changed since the College ofBusiness at the University of Northern Col-orado first opened itsdoors to students in1968.

Over the years, thecollege struggled to com-pete with Colorado StateUniversity, the Universityof Colorado, the Univer-sity of Denver and othersfor students, offeringMBA and doctoral pro-grams.

Today, however, the college’s history is astory of your basic no-frills business pro-gram morphing into one of the highest-regarded undergraduate business schools inthe United States.

The transformation didn’t happenovernight. Rather, it was two decades in themaking and it might not have happened atall if the pieces of the puzzle — educators,programs, funding — did not fall into placeas they did.

It all began in 1984, when the collegestrategically decided to focus on under-

Deans, faculty, studentspromoted new directionfor Monfort College

DUFF


TECH SAVVY — Features such as the technology center at the Kenneth W. Monfort College of Business have been made possible by a strategic shift that occurred in 1984.See DECISIONS, 14B


Kepner Hall reflects business college’s philosophy


BUILDING HISTORY — Kepner Hall, built in 1912, has housed what’s now known as the Kenneth W. Monfort College of Business since 1968.

See KEPNER HALL, 15B

By Sue [email protected]

GREELEY — Just where the heart ofKepner Hall lies is up for grabs, says TimJares, associate dean of the Kenneth W.Monfort College of Business.

The second-oldest building on the Uni-versity of Northern Colorado campus inGreeley, Kepner Hall was built in 1912 andhas housed those engaged in the study ofbusiness since 1968.

Students embroiled in studying financeand the stock market would likely identifythe building’s heart as the trading room, thehigh-tech nerve center of MCB’s million-dollar student-run portfolio.

Marketing students might say it’s themarketing multimedia center where stu-dents can employ high-end business equip-ment and technologies to create marketingplans and materials.

For Jares, however, the heart of KepnerHall beats in the building’s basement CyberCafé, where students can nearly always befound with coffee, bagels and computers athand.

“Our building says we want you here andwe want you to stay here and we want youto study here. It’s a warm, comfortable feel-ing,” Jares said.

Building blends history,technology, camaraderieat Monfort College

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Long the home of UNC’s College ofBusiness, Kepner Hall hasn’t always beenwarm, however.

Garth Allen, chairman of the Depart-ment of Finance and associate professor,has taught there since 1973. He can recall atime when windows in the building literallylet the outside in.

“Some mornings you would come inand see snow on the inside of the windowsill,” Allen said, recalling days when hewould look out over classrooms of students

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taking notes in gloves and mittens.Allen also recalled the building’s steam

radiators. Their rumbling and grumblingfrequently punctuated lectures in the build-ing.

Still, despite growing evidence that thebuilding needed work in the years before itwas renovated, it retained a certainambiance. “The building had a lot ofcharm, lots and lots of history,” Allen said.

A major renovation in 1986 brought thebuilding up to date, preserving much of

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the original charm while ensuring that stu-dents and faculty could tap modern tech-nology. Today’s Kepner Hall is a mix of oldand new. For example, a stock ticker puls-es in the midst of the restored turn-of-the-century decor of the building’s sweepingfoyer.

The project injected $4.8 million intoKepner Hall, creating an atmosphere thatblends the structure’s historic architecturewith the college’s philosophy on training


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Monfort Foundation a key donor for UNC, others


HISTORY OF GIVING — A statue of Ken Monfort standsin front of Kepner Hall, home to what’s now known asthe Kenneth W. Monfort College of Business at the Uni-versity of Northern Colorado. Monfort donated $10.5million to the college that now bears his name, one ofmany donations to area causes by his family.

By Robert [email protected]

EATON — In the late stages of its 2001-2002 fund-raising campaign, the prospectsfor the United Way of Weld County werelooking grim.

The charitable agency was nearly$400,000 short of its goal, with less than amonth before the deadline. Many would-bedonors were apparently tapped out aftergiving money to help with the aftermath ofthe Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Furthermore,the stock market was in decline, puttingextra pressure on the potential pool ofcharitable funds.

That’s when the Monfort Family Foun-dation came into the picture, cutting acheck for $350,000 to put the United Waywithin reach of its goal.

In ensuing years, the foundation hasadded gifts of $400,000 each year to theUnited Way, one of a growing list of causesto benefit from the family, which is synony-mous with Weld County’s status as anagribusiness powerhouse.

“They are very generous to United Way,”said Jeannine Truswell, executive director ofthe United Way of Weld County. “If youlook at the last 10 years, it would be mil-lions.”

United Way is one of the Monfort Fami-

Family gave $10.5 mil to Monfort College,among many causes


ly Foundation’s regular beneficiaries —Foundation trustees Dick Monfort, Kay(Monfort) Ward and Kyle (Monfort) Futohave all served on the United Way’s board ofdirectors at various times.

“Not only is it a family foundation, butthey individually have all lent their leader-ship,” Truswell said. Still, it’s just one of along list of grantees that includes causessuch as the American Cancer Society, Col-orado 4-H, Habitat for Humanity, Meals onWheels, North Colorado Medical CenterFoundation, the Special Olympics, the Uni-versity of Northern Colorado and the WeldFood Bank.

Major gifts announced in recent yearsinclude:

n The Children’s Hospital, Denver, $10million.

n University of Colorado Health Sci-ences Center, Denver, $5 million.

n The University of Northern ColoradoKenneth W. Monfort College of Business,Greeley, $10.5 million.

n Colorado State University MonfortProfessor Program, Fort Collins, $2.5 mil-lion.

The foundation was started in 1970 byWarren and Edith Monfort, whose grand-children now oversee the organization.

“Until ’87, it was just focused on WeldCounty,” said Dick Monfort.

In 1987, when ConAgra Foods Inc.acquired the Monfort Inc. meatpackingbusiness, proceeds from the sale boostedthe value of the foundation. The founda-tion’s assets doubled again in size in 2001when the late Ken Monfort passed away,leaving a large gift from his will.

with permission.

“The foundation was really started bymy grandparents to help the community,”said Dick Monfort, who runs the founda-tion with his brother Charlie, sisters Kayand Kyle, and Ken’s widow Myra Mon-fort.

In the mid 1990s, the foundation —which counts assets of about $40 million —started issuing large-scale grants for region-

al institutions, including Colorado StateUniversity, the University of ColoradoHealth Sciences Center and, most recently,Children’s Hospital in Denver.

In September 2004, the Monfortsannounced a $10 million donation to theDenver-based hospital to be parceled outover a number of years.

The latter gift also reflects the centralmission of the foundation’s giving — chil-dren.

“We want to help children who havehad a tough blow in life, who are not asfortunate as we have been,” Dick Monfortsaid.

Collectively, Dick and his siblings have 15children of their own, which has helped toinfluence the foundation’s focus on children.

“We’re very fortunate we have childrenwho are healthy,” he said.

The Monfort Children’s Clinic in Gree-ley, which opened in 1995, stands as themost enduring local symbol of the founda-tion’s emphasis on children’s issues.

“They care so much about this area andits families and children,” Truswell said. “Ithink they recognize the future of childrenis so important. They have just reached outso much.”

The foundation’s ongoing goal is to dis-tribute at least $2 million a year in gifts,Dick Monfort said.

While he declined to disclose a full list ofrecipients and their grants, the foundation hasannounced about $25.5 million in total giftsto about 200 agencies in the last five years.

Editor’s note: This article originallyappeared Oct. 2, 2004.


Business Plus program brings business leaders to town

By Sue [email protected]

GREELEY — Kathy Kloninger, CEOof Girl Scouts of the USA, talked aboutorganizational change while she was inGreeley. John Bachmann, senior partnerat Edward Jones and chairman of theU.S. Chamber of Commerce, discussedhealth care and tort reform. EdMcVaney, founder of J.D. Edwards andCo., discussed the challenges of rebuild-ing Iraq.

Each was part of the Business Plus pro-gram at the University of Northern Col-orado, which brings top business leadersto Greeley to meet with students and res-idents there. Jointly sponsored by theKenneth W. Monfort College of Business,the UNC Foundation and the NorthernColorado Business Report, Business Plushas been bringing nationally and interna-tionally recognized leaders to town since1988.

“What we try to do is really give peoplean opportunity to be motivated orinspired by these folks through their per-spectives on leadership, business and civic

World-class speakersshare expertise withGreeley residents

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engagement. Those are the three areas wefocus on,” said Jim Moore, UNC Founda-tion president.

The specific topics that speakersaddress vary widely, said Gerald Shad-wick, retiring associate dean of the Mon-fort College of Business. Shadwick haslong coordinated the program.

“Most tend to talk about their compa-nies, their experiences, or where theythink things should be going,” Shadwicksaid.

Whether it’s UNC alumna and U.S.Mint director Henrietta Holsman Forespeaking, or Teruaki Aoki, presidentand COO of Sony Electronics, or Mil-lard Fuller, founder and president ofHabitat for Humanity, education isalways the underlying theme, Shadwicksaid.

“It always relates to education, eitheras information and opportunity for thepublic or learning experiences for ourstudents. So clearly it relates to our mis-sion, which is business education,” Shad-wick said.

The list of past speakers reads as awho’s who of influential Americans.Gen. Alexander Haig; U.S. Secretary ofEducation Rod Paige; Mo Siegal, retiredCEO of Celestial Seasonings; TamiHeim, president of Borders Books andMusic; John Young, former CEO ofHewlett-Packard Co.; Bill Coors; Pete

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Coors; Sam Addoms, chairman andfounder of Frontier Airlines; DickKovacevich, president and CEO ofWells Fargo and Co.; and DuaneCantrell, president of Payless Shoe-source.

For Shadwick, Cantrell stands out asone of the most dynamic speakers. “It wasjust a dynamite presentation. He reallytalked about what makes a small businesssuccessful,” Shadwick said.

Afterwards, Shadwick said, audiencemembers talked about wishing to takeCantrell’s presentation to other businessoperators in the community. “It was agreat training session for people in busi-ness,” he said.

The program series opened in March1988 with Mike Harper, then CEO ofConAgra Foods Inc. That presentationdrew 450 people. Attendance more typi-cally ranges between 150 and 300. Theuniversity maintains a mailing list ofabout 1,200 people who are alerted whena Business Plus speaker is coming totown.

Business Plus programs, which occurabout three times a year, are open to any-one. The cost is $15, “a bargain,” Shad-wick noted.

“The idea is that we’re bringing thesepeople who are just not normally avail-able to the public in this area to make apresentation.”

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The make-up of the audiences that fillthe Greeley Country Club, the UNC ball-room or the Panorama room for BusinessPlus presentations varies. “Pick a catego-ry,” Shadwick said. “Community leaderstend to show up, but beyond that it’s busi-ness people, it’s professional people, it’speople who are interested in the personwho is coming.”

Business Plus presentations typicallytake place over breakfast or lunch,depending on the speaker’s schedule.Afterward, the featured speaker visits oncampus with two or three classes, givingstudents a chance to interact with theleaders.

“We think it’s a nice supplement totheir education to be able to meet, listento and see in action people who are reallydoing the kinds of things at the top levelsof where our students may be headedsome day,” Shadwick said.

The speakers aren’t paid for their pre-sentations. Shadwick said most visit Gree-ley to speak simply because they havebeen asked. “I think for a lot of them it’s apayback,” he said.

While proceeds from the events don’ttypically cover costs, Moore said the UNCFoundation sees it as a great communityservice. “We feel that it’s a terrific oppor-tunity for the UNC Foundation and thecollege to do something for the Greeleycommunity,” Moore said.

Colorado Business Report, Inc. Reprinted with permission.

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ort, your message is being directly deliv-

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nt of your target audience:

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DECISIONS, from 10B

graduate education, phasing out the MBAand doctoral programs.

Dean Emeritus William Duff was onboard then. “As I look back on it, probablythe most important thing I did was set up aseries of meetings of the faculty at myhouse.” Over beers, they discussed leader-ship, focus and niches. “We wanted to be thebest business school in the state. Innoodling through it, there wasn’t any one inhigher education — state-supported educa-tion — that focused on an undergraduateprogram,” Duff said.

He credits his “shepherds” with helpinghim steer the business school toward its newcourse — Robert Tointon, then chairman ofthe UNC Board of Trustees, and MyraMonfort, who was on the business deansearch committee that ultimately hiredDuff.

Duff recalled his first lunch with Mon-fort. “She asked ‘What are your visions forthe College of Business?’ I laid them out forher. And she replied, ‘I can help you.’ Shetook me by the hand and introduced me topeople and critiqued my presentationsafterward.”

Duff and Monfort continued their fund-raising in tandem with the UNC Founda-tion. An overhaul of the business schoolalso meant an overhaul of the building thathoused the college. Major businesses andfoundations with Greeley ties contributedto the $4.8 million renovation. The entireinterior was gutted and transformed into astate-of-the-art facility featuring the latesttechnology.

Through the years, Duff continued hisrelationship with Myra Monfort and herhusband, cattle baron Ken Monfort. TheMonforts had contributed $1 million eachto UNC and Colorado State University foran endowed chair.

But Duff wanted more.“I went out to dinner with Ken and Myra

and convinced them we needed to developan executive professor program. What Ienvisioned was getting people successfuland visible in careers in business who hadattained a real level of success and offerthem the opportunity to teach at UNC forthree to five years. It would be a transitionfor them from corporate retirement to reg-ular retirement.”

The Monforts agreed to the plan. TheMonfort Executive Professor Programbecame the college’s next step to greatness.

Lee Korins, former CEO and Chairmanof the Pacific and Philadelphia StockExchange and president of the SecurityTrader’s Association, was first on board.“He

brings knowledge and expertise. He canhelp place graduates, and they can help mewith fund-raising,” Duff related.

Junius Peake of the National Associationof Securities Dealers, John Boose, formerpresident of Colorado Memory Systems,and Gerald Shadwick, former chairman andCEO of Bank One, Greeley, also teachthrough the Monfort program.

Duff said the other important ingredientto the success of the business college is asuccession of deans who shared in thevision from the beginning.

Robert Lynch became dean in 1994.Shortly after, the UNC College of Businessstarted making headlines when it wasnamed an example of “Best Practices inTechnology” by UCLA Report-BusinessSchool Computing Usage; in 1995 the Den-ver Post called the college “the best bargainin undergraduate business education any-where in America right now …” and Col-orado Business Magazine named it “BestUndergraduate Business Program in Col-orado.”

Nationwide news coverage got a boost in1998 when the New York Times wrote anarticle about the Student and FoundationFund, an investment class designed to letstudents invest real funds in the stock mar-ket. It started out with $200,000 and now isvalued at more than $1.1 million. “It’s thelargest undergraduate fund in the country,”Duff said.

UNC’s College of Business got anotherboost in 1999, when the Monfort FamilyFoundation made a $10.5 million com-mitment to the college, which wasrenamed the Kenneth W. Monfort Col-lege of Business. That same year, MCBbecame one of five undergraduate-onlyprograms in the United States to holdaccreditations in both business adminis-tration and accounting.

In 2000, the Monfort College was Col-orado’s only business program to earn theColorado Commission on Higher Educa-tion Program of Excellence award.

Joe F. Alexander took over the helm asMCB dean in 2002. He and others at thebusiness school began working toward theMalcolm Baldrige award.

In the meantime, honors kept comingUNC’s way. In 2004, MCB seniors exceed-ed the 90th percentile on EducationalTesting Service Major Field Testing Busi-ness, and Colorado Performance Excel-lence recognized MCB with the Timber-line Award.

And then, after just two applications —and 1,000 hours of scrutiny — MCBbecame the nation’s first business college toearn the Malcolm Baldrige National Quali-ty Award.



TRADING ROOM — The Student and Foundation Fund uses this trading room to administer an investment fundthat’s valued at more than $1.1 million.

KEPNER HALL, from 11B

business students.Examples of the philosophy described as

“high touch, wide tech and professionaldepth” are found throughout the building,Jares said.

Kepner Hall’s small classrooms help stu-dents and faculty connect. Seating capacityin most ranges from about 20 to 42. “Andit’s fixed seating so that doesn’t vary,” Jaresnoted. “The largest room we have seats 62people. Classes in that room typically num-ber 55.”

With small classes, instructors are morelikely to know students’ names and recog-nize faces. “I know when they’re in my classand when they’re not,” he said.

“I think you just have a different level ofintimacy and involvement from the stu-dents and the professors because of thefacility,” he added.

The building’s infrastructure, whichemphasizes state-of-the-art hardware andsoftware, reflects the wide-tech piece of thephilosophy. Technology is integrated acrossthe curriculum.

“Technology is here to stay in businessand here to be leveraged, and we want ourstudents to not just have access to that butbe immersed in it throughout their experi-ence here,” Jares said.

Since its 1987 renovation, an addition-al $5 million in computer and technologyupgrades have been made to the facility.The building houses five computing labsand boasts a 400-station computer net-work.

Three student practice rooms — essen-tially small conference rooms — containtechnology that allows students to collabo-rate effectively on such real-world business

activities as preparing PowerPoint presenta-tions and spreadsheets.

By housing faculty offices adjacent toclassrooms, students are assured access tothe depth of knowledge and experience offaculty members, “many who have had longcareers before in academics or outside con-sulting experiences,” Jares said.

An engraved sign high on the red-brickbuilding’s facade reads Training School, areminder of Kepner Hall’s original name

and occupant. The building first housed theuniversity Model School, a live trainingschool where education students practicedtheir teaching skills.

The Training School was renamed in1931 for Harry V. Kepner Jr., a longtimepresident of the board of trustees.

The center portion of the buildingopened in 1912 at a cost of $88,000. Westand east wings were added in 1922 and1923, according to university archives.


monfort college of business captures coveted malcolm...

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